Protest as Israelis fire over envoy's car

By Harry de Quetteville in Jerusalem

Britain has protested over Israeli soldiers shooting when a British diplomatic car carrying the family of a peace activist approached a checkpoint.

The family of Tom Hurndall, 21, were travelling to gather information at the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza where he was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper as he tried to rescue childen caught in cross-fire. He is now in a coma in an Israeli hospital with minimal prospects of recovery.

Staff at the British Embassy had twice given advance notice that two diplomatic cars would be approaching a checkpoint but as they did so a shot rang out over the top of the vehicles.

They were carrying Mr Hurndall's parents, Anthony and Jocelyn, of Tufnell Park, north Lonon, and their youngest son, Freddie, 12, along with the military and political attachés at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.

After the cars stopped, the political attaché stepped out of the car with his hands in the air to try to explain the situation to soldiers while the defence attaché, Col Tom Fitzalan Howard, phoned the army for an explanation.

Mr Hurndall said later: "There's a complete lack of control. They fire without warning."

Last night, a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that a shooting incident had occurred in Gaza. "A single warning shot was fired as staff from the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate general in Jerusalem were crossing the Abu Khouli in Gaza," he said.

"Nobody was hurt and our defence attache in Tel Aviv has raised the issue with the Israeli Defence Force."

• A Jewish man was killed and his daughter injured last night after Palestinian gunmen ambushed their car north of the West Bank city of Ramallah. They were on the road from Ramallah to their home in the settlement of Shvut Rachel. A third man, believed to be a soldier, was also wounded.

Israeli troops immediately sealed off the area and began a hunt for the gunmen.